The first. The second. The third. The defeaning noise of bombs reached the citizens of San Pietro in October 1943. Hidden in the caves, in the cold with hunger pangs, and scared of death, they heard and saw thousands of years of history be destroyed. The history of their town. This history began in Roman times and continued for centuries, seeing scroll armies and merchants, sovereigns, popes and peasants on the Via Latina between Rome and Capua. When it was all over, little or nothing stood up. But memory did and does still today.
It walks with the legs of the young people of that time, people from San Pietro, America, Canada, Poland, whose inhabitants escaped the war and came and come back there with children, nephews on a journey into the abyss of suffering and humanity. And especially to travel in memory, mightly evoked by the charming setting of the museum space, by its exhibits, its movies and sounds. Moreover, the dark where the itinerary takes place is even more charming, since it seems to be generated by rocks and poor walls belonging to the former mill.
The town, though, is also art and archaeology, antiquity and Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque, art and architecture, faith and trade, culture and popular traditions, agricultural work and proto-industry. It is, above all, a novel thanks to the guides’ voices that welcome and come with the visitors.
When you go up with difficulty, you could reach the remains of the castle. While, when you go down till the fountain of Santa Maria dell’Acqua, it is possible to see her shrine to regain two Roman memorial stones and to bounce back in history. Eventually the beauty of this landscape wins over the pain of remembering and it reconnects with life and history.
The museum itinerary has been created and realized by Officine Rambaldi of designer Carlo Rambaldi, who won an Academy Award.
Read more detailed description concerning with this museum.
text by Pietro Di Lorenzo / translated by Denise Kendall-Jones (2020)
Accessibility
Partial wheelchairs accessibility
Opening hours
Daylight saving time: Saturday and Sunday
10am to 1pm e 4,30pm to 7pm
Solar time: Saturday and Sunday
10.30am to 12.30am e 3,30pm to 5,30pm
Other days for booking 10 people
Ticket
Free donation
Address
Piazza San Nicola - 81049, San Pietro Infine (CE)
Phone
+39 338 3672331
website
http://www.comune.sanpietroinfine.ce.it/vivere-il-paese/
Museum spot (1’34”)
Museum short video (4’13”):